#ten portraits of jews in the twentieth century

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Emma Riva

Andy Warhol painted Mao, machine guns and Marilyn Monroe, but the public was scandalized in 1980 when he painted Jews.

The New York Times claimed that Warhol’s “Ten Portraits of Jews in the Twentieth Century” “reek[ed] of commercialism, and their contribution to art is nil,” and The Philadelphia Inquirer called the portraits “Jewploitation.”

But this month, Andy Warhol Museum Chief Curator Aaron Levi Garvey, a Jewish curator and historian originally from New York, installed them at the museum.

“I never understood calling these portraits commercial or vapid,” Garvey said. “What of Warhol’s work isn’t commercial? He worked with the idea of what an icon is.”

The 10 Jewish subjects that Warhol, art dealer Ronald Feldman and JCC of Greater Washington Gallery Director Susan Morgenstein selected in 1980 were actress Sarah Bernhardt; United States Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis; philosopher Martin Buber; physicist Albert Einstein; psychologist Sigmund Freud; comedians the Marx Brothers; Israel’s Prime Minister Golda Meir; songwriter George Gershwin; and writers Franz Kafka and Gertrude Stein.

The installation at the Warhol, Garvey said, was initially conceived as a gesture of solidarity coinciding with the five-year commemoration of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

Then the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 happened.

Fear of controversy over highlighting Jews during a period of escalating violence and brutality in Israel — as well as personal antisemitic threats that Garvey said were made against him via email and voicemail — could have caused the Jewish curator to postpone or cancel the exhibit. But he’s no stranger to anti-Jewish hate and decided to go through with the installation.

“People used to carve swastikas into my desk when I was in high school, and I experienced major antisemitism in college,” he said. “I want viewers of ‘Ten Portraits’ to learn and be open to dialogue.”

The portraits share a room on the fourth floor of the Warhol with Keith Haring’s “Untitled (Elephant)” — a literal elephant in the room alongside a figurative one, Garvey noted.

In the lineup of Warhol’s “Jewish geniuses,” as the artist nicknamed them, the views and figures represented are complex. Kafka abandoned Judaism. Bernhardt hid her Jewish identity. Stein supported the Vichy government of France, an actively anti-Jewish regime. Einstein is quoted as saying: “I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state” in a 1938 speech entitled “Our Debt to Zionism,” even though he was offered the position of president of Israel.

One of the many things that makes “Ten Portraits” so timely and provocative is that it asks viewers to consider what being a Jewish icon means. All the portraits are of Ashkenazi Jews and speak to a certain image of Jewish identity. However, rather than Jacob Riis-esque tenement photography or depictions of Jewish suffering and tragedy, Warhol highlighted Jewish exceptionalism in the arts, government and sciences.

“I want viewers to think about all of these people in multitudes, in a non-linear fashion,” Garvey said. “It’s about Jewish exceptionalism but in a multitude of ways. All of the subjects contain multitudes. In the wall text, I put that Martin Buber was a Zionist philosopher. Someone told me I couldn’t say that, and I was like, ‘Well, that’s what he was,’” Garvey recalled.

Garvey said that the museum’s internal response to the installation has been mixed, including various complaints that misidentified Garvey’s ethnicity and some inflammatory antisemitic remarks. But nonetheless, Garvey and Warhol Director Patrick Moore co-signed an exhibition statement calling for peace and solidarity.

[lascitasdelashoras]

Franz Kafka en un detalle de Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, de Andy Warhol

[sardens]

Andy Warhol - George Gershwin, from Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century

[100-art]

Ten Famous Jews of the 20th Century by Warhol Pop Art Portraits Art Print

Series of Ten famous Jews of the twentieth century, 1980 Sarah Bernhardt Sigmund Freud Gertrude Stein Franz Kafka Albert Einstein Marx Brothers Golda Meir Martin Buber Louis Brandeis George Gershwin

[oncanvas]

Franz Kafka from Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, Andy Warhol, 1980

Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board 40 x 32 ⅛ in. (101.6 x 81.6 cm) Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, USA

[myheartmakespop]

La eterna vuelta a los años 80

Si hay una época que ha quedado marcada en el inconsciente colectivo son los años 80. Tanto para nostálgicos como para quienes realmente ni habían nacido, se suelen traer de vuelta aspectos característicos de esta década. Pero, ¿qué sucedió en la cultura pop de esos años?

Se caracterizan por ser los años más visuales gracias a la llegada de los videoclips, los videojuegos y los primeros móviles, entre tantos artistas que hoy día son referencia para muchos. La estética ochentera, sus iconos y su espíritu encantan a las masas, por eso no es de extrañar que hayan sido explotados por la industria de la moda y del entretenimiento.

Varios ejemplos de la actualidad que se ambientan en estos años son: Stranger Things (televisión), It (cine), The Time of My Life (libros), Crossing Souls (videojuegos), uso de sintetizadores o la venta de vinilos (música), camisetas de grupos de la época (moda) e incluso los filtros de fotos que imitan la estética de las Polaroid y la textura de las cintas VHS (móviles).

A continuación os contamos 7 imprescindibles de los años 80 que la hicieron una de las épocas más recordadas y felices:

1. Los videojuegos Atari

Usando un sistema basado en cartuchos que permitía a los usuarios jugar una variedad de videojuegos, la consola Atari marcó el comienzo de una nueva era en los sistemas de juegos domésticos. El éxito sucedió en 1980 después de que Atari lanzara una versión del videojuego japonés Space Invaders. Las ventas se duplicaron cuando millones compraron la consola para jugar el popular juego de arcade en casa. Otros títulos populares fueron Adventure, Asteroids, Frogger, Pac-Man o Pong.

2. Los casetes

Durante la década de los 80’ el casete se masificó definitivamente como resultado de la llegada al mercado de las grabadoras portátiles de bolsillo y walkman, pequeños reproductores de cassette portátiles con auriculares que permitían al usuario escuchar su música en cualquier momento y en cualquier lugar, y cuyo tamaño no era mucho mayor que el propio casete. El usuario podía grabar en una cinta la selección de música que creyera oportuna y llevarla allí donde quisiera.

3. Los reyes del pop: Madonna y Michael Jackson

La música de los ochenta fue un boom total. A parte de darnos canciones, como Girls just want to have fun de Cindy Lauper o Every breath you take de The Police, fue una época marcada por los reyes del pop. Thriller de Michael Jackson o Like a Virgin de Madonna sonaban en todo momento y marcaron el devenir de la música pop. Lástima que no lograran ponerse de acuerdo para una épica colaboración entre ambos por sus opuestos puntos de vista.

4. El cubo de Rubik

Cuando salió al mercado por primera vez en 1977, el popular juguete recibió el nombre de Cubo Mágico Húngaro. Sin embargo, con la esperanza de algo más atractivo, el nombre se cambió a Cubo de Rubik en 1980 y logró vender 390 millones de cubos durante los siguientes 29 años. Es un imprescindible de la época, muy presente en la actualidad con sus infinitas versiones y dificultades.

5. Éxitos de taquilla: E.T., Regreso al Futuro o Los Cazafantasmas

Hollywood consideró que ya se había arriesgado suficiente durante los años setenta y fue a por lo seguro.  Terminator, Las aventuras de Indiana Jones y Regreso al Futuro fueron las joyas de la corona y con ellas nació el concepto del blockbuster, las películas de verano y la popularización de las franquicias para todos los públicos. Fue la época dorada del cine juvenil, un momento en el que la industria dejó sacar a sus directores y guionistas el niño que todos llevamos dentro.

6. Series: The Simpson, Dynasty o El equipo A

Una de las décadas más prolíficas y veneradas de la televisión americana. Destacaron sobre todo las sitcoms como Alf,  Salvados por la Campana, Seinfeld o Las chicas de oro. También se popularizaron las series de acción y aventura como El coche fantástico, Corrupción en Miami, Los vigilantes de la playa o Se ha escrito un crimen.

7. Arte

El arte de los años 80 puede clasificarse en dos corrientes principales: el neoconceptualismo, que pasó del minimalismo y el conceptualismo a adoptar técnicas de fotografía y apropiación; y el neoexpresionismo, que exhumaba las nociones tradicionales de pintura que habían sido eliminadas por el modernismo.

Centrándonos en el arte más popular, tenemos a Andrew Warhola, más conocido como Andy Warhol como uno de los mayores representantes dentro de su ámbito. Tal es su influencia que existe un museo dedicado a su obra con su nombre en su ciudad natal, Pensilvania. Se trata del museo más grande de Estados Unidos dedicado a un solo artista.

A continuación sus obras más famosas de la década de los años 80:

Orange Prince (1984)

Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century (1980)

Diamond Dust Joseph Beuys (1980)

Fuentes:

https://www.lavanguardia.com/historiayvida/mas-historias/20190628/47312240079/por-que-nos-gustan-los-anos-ochenta.html https://www.oxigeno.com.pe/campanas/5-cosas-inolvidables-que-definieron-la-cultura-de-los-80-noticia-1129289 https://bestlifeonline.com/80s-facts/ https://www.britannica.com/technology/Atari-console https://www.guioteca.com/los-80/la-historia-del-cassette-la-forma-mas-popular-de-almacenar-audio-y-musica-en-los-80/ https://www.culturagenial.com/es/arte-pop/ https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol https://domingodecine.com/aquellos-maravillosos-a%C3%B1os-80-95f14caf72a6 https://www.fotogramas.es/series-tv-noticias/g13156261/mejores-series-anos-80/?slide=31

[gacougnol]

Andy Warhol Sarah Bernhardt From "Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century" 1980

[portraitsgallery]

ANDY WARHOL, Albert Einstein, from Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century (F. & S. II.229), 1980

[eriksspanishlitblog]

Ten Interesting Novels

 1. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal.  ( Source : goodreads ) 

2. Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas 

In the final moments of the Spanish Civil War, fifty prominent Nationalist prisoners are executed by firing squad. Among them is the writer and fascist Rafael Sanchez Mazas. As the guns fire, he escapes into the forest, and can hear a search party and their dogs hunting him down. The branches move and he finds himself looking into the eyes of a militiaman, and faces death for the second time that day. But the unknown soldier simply turns and walks away. Sanchez Mazas becomes a national hero and the soldier disappears into history. As Cercas sifts the evidence to establish what happened, he realises that the true hero may not be Sanchez Mazas at all, but the soldier who chose not to shoot him. Who was he? Why did he spare him? And might he still be alive? ( Source : Amazon )

3. The Dangerous Summer by Ernest Hemingway

The Dangerous Summer is Hemingway's firsthand chronicle of a brutal season of bullfights. In this vivid account, Hemingway captures the exhausting pace and pressure of the season, the camaraderie and pride of the matadors, and the mortal drama as in fight after fight the rival matadors try to outdo each other with ever more daring performances. At the same time Hemingway offers an often complex and deeply personal self-portrait that reveals much about one of the twentieth century's preeminent writers. ( Source : Amazon ) 

4. Cathedral of the Sea: A Novel by Ildefonso Falcones

In the tradition of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, here is a thrilling historical novel of friendship and revenge, plague and hope, love and war, set in the golden age of 14th-century Barcelona. Arnau Estanyol arrives in Barcelona and joins the powerful guild of stone-workers building the magnificent cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar, while his adoptive brother Joan studies to become a priest. As Arnau prospers, he secretly falls in love with a forbidden woman. When he is betrayed and hauled before the Inquisitor, he finds himself face-to-face with his own brother. Will he lose his life just as his beloved cathedral is finally completed, or will his brother spare him? ( Source : Amazon ) 

5. The Fencing Master by Arturo Perez-Reverte 

The unstoppable thrust is the arcane fencing technique known only by Don Jaime—and the deadly maneuver that a beautiful young woman wants him to teach her.What begins as a rather bold request leads Don Jaime into the shadowy politics and violence of mid-nineteenth-century Madrid. ( Source : Amazon )

6. Driving Over Lemons : An Optimist in Spain by Chris Stewart

No sooner had Chris Stewart set eyes on El Valero than he handed over a check.  Now all he had to do was explain to Ana, his wife that they were the proud owners of an isolated sheep farm in the Alpujarra Mountains in Southern Spain.  That was the easy part. Lush with olive, lemon, and almond groves, the farm lacks a few essentials—running water, electricity, an access road.  And then there's the problem of rapacious Pedro Romero, the previous owner who refuses to leave.  A perpetual optimist, whose skill as a sheepshearer provides an ideal entrée into his new community, Stewart also possesses an unflappable spirit that, we soon learn, nothing can diminish.  Wholly enchanted by the rugged terrain of the hillside and the people they meet along the way—among them farmers, including the ever-resourceful Domingo, other expatriates and artists—Chris and Ana Stewart build an enviable life, complete with a child and dogs, in a country far from home. ( Source : Amazon ) 

7. Winter in Madrid : A Novel by C.J. Sansom

September 1940: the Spanish Civil War is over, Madrid lies in ruin, while the Germans continue their march through Europe, and General Franco evades Hitler's request that he lead his broken country into yet another war. Into this uncertain world comes a reluctant spy for the British Secret Service, sent to gain the confidence of Sandy Forsyth, an old school friend turned shady Madrid businessman. Meanwhile, an ex-Red Cross nurse is engaged in a secret mission of her own. Through this dangerous game of intrigue, C. J. Sansom's riveting tale conjures a remarkable sense of history unfolding and the profound impact of impossible choices. ( Source : Amazon ) 

8. The Last Jew by Noah Gordon 

In the year 1492, the Inquisition has all of Spain in its grip. After centuries of pogrom-like riots encouraged by the Church, the Jews - who have been an important part of Spanish life since the days of the Romans - are expelled from the country by royal edict. Many who wish to remain are intimidated by Church and Crown and become Catholics, but several hundred thousand choose to retain their religion and depart; given little time to flee, some perish even before they can escape from Spain. Yonah Toledano, the 15-year-old son of a celebrated Spanish silversmith, has seen his father and brother die during these terrible days - victims whose murders go almost unnoticed in a time of mass upheaval. Trapped in Spain by circumstances, he is determined to honor the memory of his family by remaining a Jew. ( Source : goodreads ) 

9.The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Ruiz Zafon 

Nine-year-old Alicia lost her parents during the Spanish Civil War when the Nacionales (the fascists) savagely bombed Barcelona in 1938. Twenty years later, she still carries the emotional and physical scars of that violent and terrifying time. Weary of her work as an investigator for Spain’s secret police in Madrid, a job she has held for more than a decade, the twenty-nine-year old plans to move on. At the insistence of her boss, Leandro Montalvo, she remains to solve one last case: the mysterious disappearance of Spain’s Minister of Culture, Mauricio Valls. ( Source : Amazon )

With her partner, the intimidating policeman Juan Manuel Vargas, Alicia discovers a possible clue—a rare book by the author Victor Mataix hidden in Valls’ office in his Madrid mansion. Valls was the director of the notorious Montjuic Prison in Barcelona during World War II where several writers were imprisoned, including David Martín and Victor Mataix. Traveling to Barcelona on the trail of these writers, Alicia and Vargas meet with several booksellers, including Juan Sempere, who knew her parents. ( Source : Amazon ) 

10. The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner 

In this stunning novel, C. W. Gortner brings to life Juana of Castile, the third child of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain, who would become the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country’s throne. Along the way, Gortner takes the reader from the somber majesty of Spain to the glittering and lethal courts of Flanders, France, and Tudor England.  Born amid her parents’ ruthless struggle to unify and strengthen their kingdom, Juana, at the age of sixteen, is sent to wed Philip, heir to the Habsburg Empire. Juana finds unexpected love and passion with her dashing young husband, and at first she is content with her children and her married life. But when tragedy strikes and she becomes heir to the Spanish throne, Juana finds herself plunged into a battle for power against her husband that grows to involve the major monarchs of Europe. Besieged by foes on all sides, Juana vows to secure her crown and save Spain from ruin, even if it costs her everything.  ( Source : Amazon ) 

[thejewishmuseum]

Happy birthday to Pop artist Andy Warhol, pictured here at the opening of Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century at the Jewish Museum in 1980. Warhol's series depicted "Ten Jewish Geniuses" as he called them: Sarah Bernhardt, Gertrude Stein, Golda Meir, the Marx Brothers, Franz Kafka, George Gershwin, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Martin Buber, and Louis Brandeis.

[docnad]

Andy Warhol, Gertrude Stein, 10 of 10 from Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, 1980 #AndyWarhol's Jews of the Twentieth Century buff.ly/2H7L2Ve #GertrudeStein https://www.instagram.com/p/B1PRwz0h5G6/?igshid=128zyjk3k5e4r

[moodoofoo]

Andy Warhol Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century: Sarah Bernhardt, II.234, 1980   screenprint on Lenox Museum Board 40 x 32 inches edition of 200

[oncanvas]

The Marx Brothers from Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, Andy Warhol, 1980

Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board 40 x 32 ⅛ in. (101.6 x 81.6 cm) Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, USA

[mendingmusic]

Andy Warhol - Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century (at The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens)

[wikimili]

==> https://t.co/wXsYUl44VL #DidYouKnow that in Andy Warhol's Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, the "faces of the dead appear as if behind a veneer of modernity" according to the National Portrait Gallery #KNOWLEDGE #DYK